towering

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈtaʊəɹɪŋ/

Verb

towering

1. present participle and gerund of tower

Adjective

towering (comparative more towering, superlative most towering)

1. Very tall or high and dwarfing anything around it.
   • 1908, W[illiam] B[lair] M[orton] Ferguson, chapter IV, in Zollenstein, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLC:

     So this was my future home, I thought! […] Backed by towering hills, the but faintly discernible purple line of the French boundary off to the southwest, a sky of palest Gobelin flecked with fat, fleecy little clouds, it in truth looked a dear little city; the city of one's dreams.

   • 1964, Look, volume 28, page 338:

     She is a towering girl with a husky baritone voice and a friendly and flamboyant style.

   • 2010 December 28, Marc Vesty, “Stoke 0-2 Fulham”, in BBC:

     And it was not until Ryan Shawcross's towering header was cleared off the line by Danny Murphy on the stroke of half-time that Stoke started to crank up the pressure and suggest they were capable of getting back into the match.

Translations

very tall, taller than surrounding objects

• Arabic: شَاهِق (šāhiq)
• Bulgarian: извисяващ се (izvisjavašt se)
• Maori: tīkoke, tīkokekoke, paratū
• Russian: высо́кий (ru) (vysókij), возвыша́ющийся (ru) (vozvyšájuščijsja), вздыма́ющийся (ru) (vzdymájuščijsja)

Noun

towering (plural towerings)

1. The act or condition of being high above others.
   • 1829, John Timbs, Laconics: Or, The Best Words of the Best Authors:

     Gaiety seldom fails to give some pain; the hearers either strain their faculties to accompany its towerings, or are left behind in envy or despair.

   • 1787, Robert Burns, letter to a friend:

     But I am an old hawk at the sport; and wrote her such a cool, deliberate, prudent reply, as brought my bird from the aerial towerings, pop down at my foot like Corporal Trim's hat.

See also

• tower over
• towering inferno